Beginner with corals (flower pot)

[mybug]

I've got a flower pot coral that is growing very well. I bought it on a rock that is larger than a golf ball, maybe about the size of a racket ball. It is growing very well and I would like to see it spread to a neighboring rock. When I bought it the coral was only growing on the top of the ball.

As it sits now it is growing down the side of the rock and the arms are extending east and west and touching a neighboring rock that has some mushrooms on it.

Again, these are beginner questions so bear with me. It would appear to me that the arms on the sides are not going to like bumping into a neighboring rock. It can't feel good. Course I also am hesitant to move the rock as I it has done so well in this location. I'm wondering if now is the time to try and trim or frag some of the arms on the side and glue them to another rock.

IF, I do attempt to cut away some of the coral, do I do that when it is retracted when the lights go down or do I attempt to do that when the 10k's are on and it is fully extended ?

IF, I attempt to cut on the coral, is it possible that not only my frag won't make it but that I could do so much damage that the parent flower pot would suffer terribly ?

Thanks in advance,

 

[UnderwaterExotic]

Im so sorry you didnt research this coral before you got it. Nice and quick for you. It is a very short lived coral. It is not going to spread to a neighboring rock! You can not frag FP by cutting the tentacles off them! You need to do some research on these corals, and i do not mean to sound like an A.., just trying to help!

 

[abeard]

Unfortunatlly he is correct. It is not an easy coral to keep and you cannot frag it. It Will kill it. I have had mine for about 6 months and all is well. I will tell you that it LOVES Kent Zooplankton.

 

[integlikewhoa]

I can speak from experiance with this one. UNDERWATER is right. Not going to live long. I have a nice one for months but then started to turn bad. My tank has been up a long time and i have kept many other things. I thought it was doing good until it started to not extend out so far. Then is started slowly lossing tissue. Good luck tho. Do some searchs on it and you should find a few people that seem to have some luck with them.

 

[tonym10]

Depends what flowerpot coral you bought. If it is Alveopora(12 petals) it is not that hard to take care of verse Goniopora(24 petals).
I have had a Alveopra for 2 years now. You cannot cut tentacles off them .
Mine has grown wider and wider and attached to all neighboring rock, making it impossible for me to move it now.

 

[UnderwaterExotic]

Dont people usually realate to the Gonipora as the "Flower Pot?" They do around here at least! Sorry if you are talking Alveopora!

 

[tonym10]

They are both called flowerpot.

 

[mybug]

I'll get the camera out

I'll get the camera out

I'll get the camera out and take a pic.

I got the coral from a LFS which is a wholesale outfit that a reef club in town recommends. Very cool place and nice guys. The coral came out of a tank that they recommend for beginners and others in town recommend.

I'm guessing/hoping it is alveopora then rather than goniopora. They just called it a flowerpot.

Years ago back in the day when salt water keepers all used canisters I killed an anenome within a week.

This coral has been in my tank for over a month now and has visibly expanded or grown down the sides of the rock. It looks as good as it did in the tank it came from and has plenty of color so if they are hard to keep they must prosper first and then rapidly decline.

So the best way to identify outside of posting a pick is to count the petals ?

Thanks for the replies.

 

[UnderwaterExotic]

Yup Exaclty! 12 Alve 24 Goni

 

[polskp]

There is definitely a reputation for goniopora being short-lived. That said, I have successfully had a goniopora for over two years in my 55 gallon aquarium... The thing has nearly tripled in size.

There is talk that the "redish" varieties are more hardy in captivity than other goniopora. Not sure whether this is the case. I think that when keeping goniopora it is important to feed phytoplankton. I also think one of the most critical aspects is placement in the tank. I have mine half-way up in the tank under a 250W Halide (currently 10K, but have also had 20s).

To me flow seems like the most critical element. They like random light to moderate flow... higher flow, and the polyps wont extend, this probably denies the animal of photosynthesis, and it dies. I think that if you consider the needs of the coral, in particular anyone can have success. My goniopora is actually quite hardy, and survived a move in which I lost nearly all my SPS last year.

 

[21Reefman]

I too had always heard that Goniporas ALWAYS die. It seemed everyone said the same thing, Don't get one.
And then I was reading about people trying to get morph colors of zoa's, open brains, by splicing 2 diff. corals of 2 diff colors back together after cutting each in half. I was amazed to hear that one of the guys was doing it with Gonipora??
He had such success with growing and fragging it that he was cutting them in half and glueing them together, With some success! I saw the pictures of the spliced corals growing. The pics are out ther on the net somewhere but I don't remember where.
So these things can be kept, grown, and aquacultured if your system is good enough.

 

[Sheol]

I have heard of many of these lasting about a year, then almost invariably declining. Whatever, its not a newbie coral by any means. Seems to need more plankton than the average reeftank can provide, plus the current thing.
My LFS has some. It is beautiful, but I'm not that tempted..

Matthew

 

[Elorian]

Try doing a search on 'Goniopora Project' by JENnKerry- they have had amazing success with theirs by target feeding 'a meaty blend of Krill, Mysis, Blood Worms, Prime Reef, and Formula One frozen foods in a blender with Liquid Life'. If I remember correctly the Liquid Life contains a lot of Cyclopeeze which seems to be key (but read through thier thread here: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=520535

Best of luck!

 

[steve the plumb]

most gonioporas die because of lack of food.I have heard they require direct feeding or else they usually die after 6 months.Not the coral for a person just starting out.You can try direct feeding with a turkey baster.This will help but you have to continue doing it.

 

[JENnKerry]

They basically need a constant supply of planktonic foods. By coming from lagoonal type environments, where the plankton is abundant, this is why most of them die in captivity.

 

[steve the plumb]

my clown fish likes to lay in the flower pot all the time.He always guards it.I have 2 anemones never touches it.

 

[JENnKerry]

The clown might lead to the demise of your goni. They are very delicate corals to begin with, and the added stress of a clownfish is definately not good.

 

[steve the plumb]

I know it doesn't open as much as it used to.I moved it towards the bottom of the tank and he doesn't go into it as much.I should have enough light but I have noticed half of the coral doesn't open as full as it used to.It looked better when it was in the center of the tank but the dam fish wouldn't leave it alone.

 

[integlikewhoa]

Thats how mine started out steve. It just kept going down hill from there.

 

[steve the plumb]

mine is a light gren and sort of yellow.It seems like some of it has algea forming around the base.I don't have algea problems and no p.All corals are fine.The clown is still guarding but not as much.I will try to target feed but I don't know if this will work.That dam clown.